Thousands in Gaza City take to the streets to celebrate 48 years of PFLP, Intifada and struggle

Thousands of leaders, cadres, members and friends of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine took the streets of Gaza City for a mass march on December 12, marking the 48th anniversary of the Front. The march, carrying Palestinian flags and PFLP banners, launched from the Saraya through the streets of the city to the United Nations headquarters, with the participation of representatives of various Palestinian national and Islamic parties, and women’s, student and youth organizations.

Comrades Bisan Odeh and Zakaria Abu Obeid opened the rally, saluting the Front and the masses of the Palestinian people.

Comrade Jamil Mizher, member of the Political Bureau and leader of the Front’s branch in Gaza, delivered the keynote speech, saluting the martyrs and giving a special salute to Comrade Sami Madi, killed by occupation forces the previous day while participating in demonstrations confronting occupation forces on the borders of Gaza to mark the Front’s anniversary.

He saluted the Palestinian leaders in prison, led by imprisoned PFLP General Secretary Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat and his fellow leaders Comrade Khalida Jarrar and Comrade Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, as well as the diverse Palestinian leaders held behind bars, including Marwan Barghouti, Jamal Abu al-Hija and Hassan Salameh. He also saluted Comrades Nidal Abu Aker and Ghassan Zawahreh of Dheisheh refugee camp on their recent release from occupation prisons, a victory over the Zionist jailer.

In particular, he saluted the Palestinian workers, peasants and popular classes as the leaders of the Palestinian revolution. He recalled the martyrs of the Palestinian struggle and of this intifada, noting that this intifada embodies the unity of Palestine and the will of the people and that it is recentering the Palestinian cause as the central issue in the region after its deliberate marginalization. Furthermore, he said, the role of the people in this uprising is superseding all narrow interests and internal divisions.

He addressed the role of US imperialism and the so-called “Quartet” in Palestine, noting that they would be unable to stop the intifada without forcing their strategic partner, the occupier, to recognize the rights of the Palestinian people.

The creative role and potential of Palestinian youth is imposing the will of the people over the Palestinian leadership, said Mizher, noting that the people would no longer accept the path of negotiations and Oslo.

Leila Khaled in Amman: Any leadership that will not liberate Palestine does not deserve to lead

The Popular Democratic Unity Party of Jordan organized a national and cultural forum on December 7 at the central trade union headquarters in Amman, marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of the party.

The PDUP or Wihda Party is an extension of the political and intellectual heritage of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Arab Nationalist Movement in Jordan.

Comrade Leila Khaled, member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP, delivered the main speech on Palestine at the event, noting that this event came as part of the struggle of the Jordanian and Palestinian peoples, marking the anniversary of the intifada, the founding of the PFLP and the founding of the Wihda party.

“Today, we see a third intifada shaking the foundations of the enemy, its army and hordes of settlers who seek to terrorise our people again and again. This uprising started where the enemy did not expect it – our capital, Jerusalem, where it came in rejection to the negotiations and in response to the devastating internal Palestinian division,” said Khaled.

“Any leadership and any authority that does not serve its people and does not liberate the land or secure the return of the refugees does not deserve to lead the people who have given so many martyrs and prsoners,” she said.

Comrade Faraj al-Tameezi of the Jordanian Communist Party spoke, discussing the class struggle in Jordan between bourgeois and parasitic forces and the working class in Jordan, noting that repressive policies and the arrest of journalists are part of the suppression of the popular movement in Jordan, and come in line with the demands of the International Monetary Fund and other global imperialist forces.

Dr. Muwaffaq Mahadin, head of the Jordanian Authors’ Union, spoke saluting the martyrs and the prisoners. He quoted Gramsci – “The old is dying and the new is not yet born” – addressing the current situation of the Arab peoples. He concluded his speech, saying “The path of liberation lives in the literature of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine: no voice is louder than the sound of the guns.”

Comrade Dr. Said Diab, General Secretary of the Wihda Party, said that this anniversary is the opportunity for a new stage in the Jordanian national movement, linking the Jordanian national democratic movement with the struggle for the liberation of Palestine.

Diab saluted the intifada emerging in occupied Palestine, saying that it represents a new overall phase in the Palestinian revolutionary movement towards liberation. He saluted the prisoners, especially Comrade Ahmad Sa’adat, imprisoned General Secretary of the PFLP, Comrade Khalida Jarrar and all of the thousands of freedom fighters in Zionist jails.

The event concluded with poetry, music, dance and the presentation of awards to veterans of the Wihda party.